Case study · Bathroom
A wet room wrapped in Blue Santorini
Four sequential quartzite slabs book-matched across a shower wall and tub surround, with no grout lines and mitered corners.
Bathroom, McLean, Virginia
2025
Blue Santorini quartzite, polished, 2cm, book-matched
- Material
- Blue Santorini quartzite, polished, 2cm, book-matched
- Scope
- Shower walls, tub surround, floating vanity top, curb and niche
- Timeline
- 3 weeks including special-order slabs
- Team
- Interior designer, general contractor, Prime Stone Design
01
The request
The designer wanted the primary bath to feel like one carved block: a dramatic blue-and-gold quartzite covering the shower walls and tub surround, mirrored so the veining met in the centre, and a floating vanity in the same stone.
The client asked for no grout lines on the walls. Every visible joint had to be a clean stone-to-stone corner.
02
The challenge
Book-matching only works with sequential slabs, cut one after another from the same block, so the pattern mirrors. Blue Santorini is quarried in small bundles, and we needed four in sequence with enough clean area for full-height wall panels.
Wall panels of quartzite at this size are heavy and unforgiving. Each panel had to be cut around a rain head, a valve, a niche and a hand shower, and the two outside corners had to be mitered so the vein wrapped around them without a visible edge.
Shower wall and tub surround
Four sequential slabs, mirrored
Mitered outside corners, no grout
03
How we solved it
- 01
A sequential bundle, held at the yard
We located a four-slab sequential bundle through one of our natural stone distributors and put it on hold. The slabs were scanned at 12K and the mirror layout was built on the scans so the designer could approve the centre line and the position of the strongest veins.
- 02
Template after rough-in
We templated once the plumbing rough-in, the cement board and the waterproofing were complete, so every penetration was measured on the real wall rather than on the drawings.
- 03
Mitered panels, installed in sequence
Panels were cut on the CNC with 45-degree miters at the two outside corners and the niche, then dry-fitted in the shop as a full assembly. On site they were installed in sequence with the joints at the mirror line, sealed and polished in place.
Before and after
Same room, two moments.
Drag to compare the bath before and after the stone went in.
04
The result
The shower reads as a single block of stone. The veining mirrors across the centre line, wraps the corners and continues onto the tub surround. There is not one grout line on the walls.
The vanity top was cut from the same bundle, so the material is continuous throughout the room. The stone was sealed at installation and the client re-seals once a year.
4
sequential slabs
0
grout lines on the walls
2
mitered outside corners
The finished work
“The centre line is perfect. Standing in the shower you cannot tell where one slab ends and the next begins.”
Materials and details
- Blue Santorini quartzite, polished, 2cm
- Book-matched shower walls and tub surround
- Mitered outside corners and niche
- Floating vanity top from the same bundle
- Penetrating sealer applied at installation
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